Going camping and going to the beach got checked off our summer fun list this week. When we were planning our meals for this past week we looked at the weather and saw that Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were really nice days. We talked about what we could do in the nice weather and decided it was probably our best weather for camping this summer so we checked to see if there were any open camp sites are First Landing State Park and booked a site. We left church an hour early and hit the road. We decided to take our kayaks with us this time which made the drive out take a little longer as we were slightly paranoid about them coming loose on the freeway. They did need to be tightened once or twice but luckily we got there safely with no real issues. We set up camp just before it got dark and hurried over to the beach attached to take a moonlight walk. We did the same thing last year and it was the highlight of the trip for Jared and Lydia. Last year there were hundreds of crabs scuttling along so they had high expectations that it would happen again and were not disappointed. They were so happy to see the crabs. Its kind of creepy to me but walking on the beach with these guys by the moonlight was great.
We all slept pretty well. It was so much cooler than last year which made a huge difference. We were still awakened bright and early with the sunrise (Jared was first at 5:53 AM) but Lydia managed to sleep until about 6:45 which was awesome. We put on our swimming suits and ate a quick breakfast. This camping trip was the most un-camping trip we have taken. We didn't do a campfire or even bring our camp stove. We were going to be at the site for such a small amount of time we tried to bring as few things as possible. So we ate a quick breakfast of store bought muffins and then headed to the water to try out our kayaks.
When we got our kayaks off the car we noticed that another bird had built a nest in one of our kayaks. We have got to get a cover for them! Kayaking on the ocean is a totally different experience than kayaking on a lake. I was slightly nervous to be honest. There were more waves at that time in the morning than I expected and I was anxious to see how Jared would do. Mark took Lydia in his kayak and Jared and I went in our own. Going out was actually pretty fun. You could catch the waves and get some good speed and height. We paddled for awhile and then I actually started to feel slightly sea sick! I tired to keep up with the rest of my family but it was tough. When we turned around to start paddling in things got trickier. Turns out it is quite difficult to paddle against the waves. Jared was working so hard he did great. We all made it back to shore and were glad we tried it. Mark felt the need to go back out to make it worth all the stress he endured driving out here with the kayaks on the car.
They were not thrilled with this arrangement but made it work.
After kayaking we packed up our campsite and then drove over to Virginia Beach to check out the boardwalk. We hadn't been before and it was fun to walk around the shops and next to the beach. We stopped for lunch and then drove down to Sand Bridge Beach to play for a few hours. We attempted boogie boarding but just really felt like the waves were not quite right which was super disappointing. The water was a great temperature and it was nice to be at the beach and not be burning up. We played in the water, built moats and castles, and played frisbee. Jared actually got stung by a bee which was weird, I don't normally think about bee stings on the beach but he got one. He actually handled it really well. We are glad we made it to the beach and got a camping trip in.
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